Greetings all.

As I've been making my "new to me" 544 play nice, I have a problem with the fuel tank.

The car sat for some time before I got it. It appears there is all kinds of sediment / junk in the tank.

I've already completely plugged up one fuel filter (to the point where the car wouldn't run), and the one I installed yesterday is already covered with what appears to be mud / other brown junk.

(I've now installed 2 filters, one in front of the pump and one before the pump.)

Any suggested methods for dealing with this? I'd rather not replace fuel filters every other day if I can help it!

I'm going to dig into the top of the tank soon to replace the tank level sender, so maybe that would be a good time to try to fix this issue.

I don't really want to remove the tank if I don't have to, but I will if it's the best way to fix it. (I did this once on my 122, and while it certainly wasn't a fun job, it wasn't too difficult. Just messy.)

Thanks as always!
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http://dylans122.blogspot.com

When you drain the tank, be sure to ground the tank to the drain container - if the container is not metal, ground the tank to the drained liquid,

Gasoline dropping through air can create enough static electricity for ignition.

Your tank is almost certainly very rusty inside and only replacing it or removing it and treating it is going to resolve the problem. I purchased an '81 Bertone that had sat up for years and found tank rust throughout the fuel system. Not even a new Bosch fuel filter stopped the rust particles getting all the way to the injectors. I tried pumping gas out into a container and that seemed to clear up some of the mess but after removing the tank and dumping the remaining gas into a white bucket it looked like muddy creek water.

[url][IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy4/tporterellijaycom/Volvo%20Bertone/PB181388.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

There are radiator/tank shops that will 'clean' and seal the interior of a rusty tank but I found that the cost was nearly as much as buying a new tank from RockAuto. Don't know if your tank is available new but you are going to have to do something other than filter the fuel.

As the other saud.. Bite the Bullet and drop the tank..

My son bought a '75 Dodge Dart a few years back... The fuel lines were plugged solid. was able to back blow them to clear them but dropping the tank and hosing it out took out a small beach. Added a fuel filter before the mechanical fule pump and one before the carburetor. Kept the car happy until a guy convinced hom to sell it to him. We still see it
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.lyse.net/brox/TonyPage4.html http://cleanflametrap.com/tony/

I'm going to suggest that the only way to really know where you're at with this is to remove and clean your tank.

Agreed, it's the only cure. Even if you bought a case of filters and changed them every week the larger bits of debris will gradually break up as you drive to make more fine particles to clog your filter. A couple of gallons of rusty gas can supply enough particles to clog one of those fluted paper filters. Having tried to strain some of this through a funnel and filter arrangement, ask me how I know. It was still brown after it had passed through the filter so the particles can be ultrafine.

Guys;

Unless someone dropped a handful of dirt into the filler (not impossible but unlikely), that brown stuff is likely rust particles. 1800ES tanks are known for it, and I suppose it can happen to any vehicle depending on weather/moisture/storage conditions. It got so I had to change filters ridiculously often...the stuff I flushed out of the (large surface area, FI) filter, was also brown rust particles (to some extent very fine)...and it was non-magnetic(!) which I was rather surprised by (someone could explain this to me: How can steel be magnetic and its oxide not?...was I absent that day in Chemistry?)....it was a real pain, but what are you going to do short of removing tank, preping the inside, and treating it internally with one of those epoxy treatments...or replacing it altogether...

There is a creative alternative...one which would not require removing tank...and easier on the 544 where it probably could be done under the hood...you could plumb in multiple filters (the see-through inspectable, cleanable, reusable, glass envelope type) with two(or even more) petcock valves, the whole thing configured to switch flow from one clogged to the next unclogged one standing by, then clean and replace the clogged one at home at your leisure and not out on the road in your Sunday best...yeah it's a bit of a pain, but eventually, I expect you'll maybe get ahead of those rust particles, and the frequency of having to switch over flow will become less and less...hopefully!

Cheers from Connecticut!

Don't the PV fuel tanks have a small drain plug in them? Even if they don't, removing the PV fuel tank doesn't seem that difficult, at least compared to other RWD Volvos I've worked on.

I'm leaning towards putting an all new one in mine eventually vs. having it cleaned, as eventually the rust will likely eat itself through the 50+ year old tank.

I agree with the previous posts, but you could try draining the tank into a large container lined with filter media, to get the larger bits out.